will follow where she
leads_. _She rises_. _The crowd gathers round_--_all are hushed to
silence_. THE KING, _as one entranced_, _puts aside all who would in any
way interfere_. _The girl precedes him_, _going from the Pagoda towards
the night_. _When she reaches the great staircase_, _she beckons_,
_Oriental fashion_, _with downward hand_. _The scene should_, _in
grouping and colour_, _make for rare beauty_.

SCENE III

_A humble dhunni-thatched hut_, _set amidst the whispering grandeur of
the jungle_, _with its mighty trees_, _its trackless paths_, _its
indescribable silence_. _The curtain discovers_ MAH PHRU _and_ THE KING,
_who expresses his amazement at the loneliness and the poverty of her
lot_. _She explains that poverty is not what frightens her_, _but the
enmity of those who live yonder_, _and who make it almost impossible for
her to sell her cucumbers or her pineapples_. THE KING'S _gaze never
leaves the face or figure of the girl_. _He declares that he will
protect her_--_that he will build her a home here in the shadow of the
loneliness around them_. _He has two years of an unfettered
freedom_--_for those years he can command his life_. _He loves her_, _he
desires her_--_they will find a Paradise together_. _The girl trembles
with joy_--_with fear_--_with surprise_. "And after two years?" _she
asks_. "Death," _he answers_.

ACT II

SCENE I

_The jungle once more_. _Time_: _noonday_. _In place of the hut is a
building_, _half Burmese_, _half Italian villa_, _of white Chunam_, _with
curled roofs rising on roofs_, _gilded and adorned with spiral carvings
and a myriad golden and jewel-encrusted bells_. _On the broad verandahs
are thrown Eastern carpets_, _rugs_, _embroideries_.

_The world is sun-soaked_. _The surrounding trees stand sentinel-like in
the burning light_. _Burmese servants squat motionless_, _smoking on the
broad white steps that lead from the house to the garden_. _The crows
croak drowsily at intervals_. _Parrots scream intermittently_. _The
sound of a guitar playing a Venetian love-song can be heard coming from
the interior_. _Otherwise life apparently sleeps_. _Two elderly
retainers break the silence_.

"When will the Thakin tire of this?" _one asks the other in kindly
contempt_.

"The end is already at hand. I read it at dawn to-day."

"Whence will it come?"

"I know not. It is written that one heart will break."

"He will leave her?"